USE COLOR

Send your child on a treasure hunt for blue, red, green (you get the idea!) items. Not only will it help their color recognition, but it will also help develop their ability to investigate. For a more sensory experience, dye rice or pasta with food coloring and place in containers. Your little one will love digging through the rainbow colors.

ASSIGN ART PROJECTS

Mixing colors is a great way to understand how different hues relate to each other. For example, red and blue make purple, blue and yellow make green and so on. Another cool task is to have your child cut out the letters of his or her name from magazines or newspapers.

CREATE READING GAMES

To reinforce literacy, go through your preschooler's favorite book and find all the places where the author has used the Letter of the Day or Word of the Week that you have chosen. Meanwhile, you can keep a list of all the words you find with definitions and make this into a reference book that your child can use moving forward.

MAKE COOKING FUN

Working with measurements are a great way for children of every age to increase fine motor skills and learn fractions. Instead of just waiting for the finished product (a yummy cake, perhaps!), your child will understand all the work required to create their favorite dishes.

BRING BOOKS TO LIFE

Acting out a scene from your child's fave tome helps promote reading comprehension. You can also choose an activity from a book to do together. For example, after reading Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham, go into the kitchen and make green eggs and ham.

USE NATURE

Just because you're on the go doesn't mean learning should stop. If you're vacationing on the beach, have your child practice writing letters in the sand. After a big snowstorm, help your tot make snowballs and then count them before starting a snowball fight.

GIVE THEM A HAND-FUL

Sensory lessons can be used to teach children about textures and temperatures, including soft versus hard and cool versus hot. Touching different objects definitely stimulates brain activity. Place water, salt and flour into an extra-large food storage box and let your child mix it with their hands. It's messy but fun!

APRIL SCHAFER

As director of CHALK Preschool, the educator knows a thing or two about what gets kids excited about learning. That's why she's a big fan of the learning center's online curriculum (think songs, mommy-and-me recipes, fun math and reading sheets), which any parent can easily access from their home computer.